


I See Us

by RideBoldlyRide



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Literally there's a poem here, Smut, Tasteful Smut, That's just for you Fictionissocialinquiry, but... poetic?, definitely has some feels, it doesn't take much to read between the lines, kinda has a plot, no beatniking while we're necking katara, this is where i see us tonight. you?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:22:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26754250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RideBoldlyRide/pseuds/RideBoldlyRide
Summary: Shared glances can tell you everything about how a night is going to go.Life has a way of showing you what you really want. Sometimes it's blatant, as real as a slap in the face.Other times, it's as subtle as the look in your lover's eyes.***Soft plot interlaced with some... steamy original poetry.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 50
Collections: Zutara Smut Exchange





	I See Us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [airiustide](https://archiveofourown.org/users/airiustide/gifts).



> Soooo... this is my first venture into smut... <.<
> 
> which, of course, means I had to go all esoteric. Because I'm that type of gal.
> 
> Anyway. Hope you guys enjoy! (especially you Airiustide! <3)

_Five years._

_The first was restful. A recovery. A breath._

_The second was comfortable. Easy mornings. Easy smiles._

_The third was uneasy. Drumming fingers. Drumming hearts._

_The fourth was restless. Fractious speech. Fractious pacing._

_The fifth was freedom._

* * *

She was aware of the way her dress scraped the top of her foot as she walked, made more clear by how foreign it felt. A discordant tune in an unknown melody. Her tunics, though long, never laid as heavy across her, nor hung as long over her, as the formal gown she wore. 

The golden glow of the lanterns strung above them shimmered like moonlight on the sea. It was oddly comforting in a mass of strangers and her gaze followed it's motions hypnotically. 

This was how Zuko found her in the crowd, head raised, eyes fixated on the lanterns caught on the breeze. 

_Chin raised, lips on jawline_

_Soft, sweet, salty skin_

_Kisses rained like fire_

_Teeth grazed like ice_

"Katara?"

His voice, a rasp and shudder across her skin - she had forgotten what it could do to her. When she turned to him, it took a moment to regain her breath. Long gone was the lanky, awkward boy, his features filling, his shoulders wide. He still stood a head over her, but now his presence seemed taller, stronger. 

But his gaze was still the same molten she remembered. 

_A pause._

_A breath._

_Lips and fingers waiting_

_A breath away._

_Eyes questioning,_

_A shuddering sigh._

_A gasp._

_A brush._

_Crashing and falling_

_Fingers at hips_

_Lips on swells_

_A moan on her tongue._

_He chases it._

The smile that lit up her face surprised even herself. Five years. She had seen the years pass on her own skin, her own body, but Katara had never felt it so keenly as she did under his purview. As his lips curled into his telltale smirk, she watched him take her in. She broke the silence that had descended first. 

"Zuko!" She moved as if to hug him, but caught herself. 

This was a different arena than the ones they had fought in prior. Tears and blood shed together, stitched up under the same hands that rained it down on others, lent itself to easy acts of affection. But in this new shuffle for dominance, he was the lord. And one didn’t hug the lord. Instead, she reached for the hand he extended, a dazzling smile at her lips. The touch, simple and innocent, belied the hungry look in his eye. 

Gently, he brought her knuckles to his lips, brushing her lightly scarred skin softly along them; a contrast of their worlds. His breath on the back of her hand sent sparks up her arm and down her spine. It took all of her willpower not to shiver.

_Breath on wet skin_

_Shudders in the heat_

_Sweat in the snow._

_Where she melts_

_He hardens_

_Touch on her thighs,_

_A fire follows after_

_She rolls as the sea_

_Crashes and groans_

_Whispers across skin_

_Rising and falling._

  
  


He met her eye again, and she could swear that in that moment, he was feeling the same heat under his skin. 

“It’s been too long.” There was an edge to his voice. “The letters helped, but…”

A genuine smile tried to wash away the pooling heat in her core. “They were just that; help. They don’t substitute actually being here.”

Their hands don’t pull away, and she became keenly aware of the soft motion at her knuckles as his thumb followed their dips and swells. 

“I’ve - I’ve missed you.” His free hand rose to the back of his neck, and the stately Fire Lord was washed away before her eyes. Sucking in a deep breath, she stepped in closer, suddenly nostalgic for the teenager she had kissed at the edge of the world, so many years ago. But when she met his gaze again, she found something new burning in her that was quite happy to be right there, right then.

With a quick glance about, she realized they were far enough away from the masses to chance what she was willing to risk. 

Her fingers came to rest on his marred cheek, her thumb ghosting over his lips. As his eyes fell closed against her touch, the sigh that escaped him swirled about her thumb. The simple action rose tears to her eyes, a soft smile pulled at her lips. 

The matching sigh that escaped her left her loose, and she turned her palm to cup his cheek, her fingers slipping into his hairline.

“I’ve missed you too.” Her words were a whisper, but she saw the corner of his lips quirk, and he turned his cheek into her hand. Ever so softly, he pressed a gentle kiss against her lifeline. 

_Twisting and tangled_

_An equal_ _tussle_

_Hungry lips_

_On tender skin_

_A cry to the stars_

_A groan to the earth_

_Eyes like fire_

_Soothe as they devour_

_Eyes like ice_

_Burn as they consume_

_Soothing touches_

_Follow eager hands_

_Observers_

_Foreigners to themselves_

_Eager gazes_

_Follow tantalizing sweat_

_Yearning blossoms_

_Behind every graze._

_Ravenous_

_Too much unspoken_

_Too much alone_

_Too much._

  
  


When he opens his eyes again, she is certain she knows where her night- where _their_ night- is going. His gaze is molten and rich, and she sees the same images, the same need. Whether this would be for the night only, or a love for the ages, she wasn’t sure. But that wasn’t a concern for the Katara of tonight. 

For so long, there had always been somebody other. She had Aang, had Toka. He had Mai, had Liang. When there had been others, the letters were rare, even though the content was as open as it had always been. Even then, Katara found that as she wrote, the unresolved emotions would lace her words, painted along with every stroke of her brush. 

As he met her eyes, though, those emotions came unbidden to her, and without thinking, she stepped forward into his space. Her hands, the only anchors between them, were surprisingly warm against his skin.

She breathed in his scent, warm, like cedarwood and anise. 

_Cascading like ink_

_A satin curtain_

_Holding the world_

_Only in this moment_

_Umber waves_

_A halo of honesty_

_Trailing like a veil_

_Tumbling across pillows_

_Fingers hold tight,_

_Fingers card softly._

  
  


Amber eyes studied her lips, and for a moment, she saw his head dip, only to stop the motion. The fire in his eyes had not quelled, and the storm in hers had not abated. And yet, he pulled in a deep breath, before taking a slight step back. She gave him the space, letting her hands fall away and to her side. 

The cool autumn air sighed a zephyr around her, and his fading presence was keenly felt, the chill raising bumps across her skin. In an instant, she felt the promise that had danced between them all night, fall away. No, her heart cried, if she could hold this moment, then there could be another, she was sure of it. 

She was wrong, the thought of deciding tomorrow was happening now, and she wanted that love for the ages.

Even in the deepest winters of the Sunless Months, the chill had not felt so pronounced. 

_Nails across planes_

_Desperate scramble_

_Needy for warmth_

_A growl at the retreat_

_Swollen lips curl_

_Questioning brow_

_A plead in her eyes_

_A pant on her lips_

_Red lines follow_

_Greedy fingers_

_Purple blossoms_

_Under eager lips_

_Spots of fire_

_Across icy slopes_

  
  


He has not left, though. Back straight, he was once more the Fire Lord, strong and steady in the icy storm. He didn’t leave her out in it for long, and as he once more extended a hand to her, and the realization came to her in a rush. 

Before, he had been Zuko, a teenager, alone, eager for love he didn’t quite know or understand.

That boy had chosen her. 

Now, he stood as the Fire Lord, a man who knew what there was to offer, knew what it meant to love, and honor.

This man chose her.

She placed her palm and her heart in his hand. 

He held it gently.

Together, they turned back to the crowd.

_He growls_

_Fire is at his lips_

_She keens_

_Ice is at her fingers._

_A promise of …_

_More?_

_It breathes out_

_Dances across_

_The chilled planes_

_Warmed slopes_

_Like the sea_

_They crash_

_Together._

_Like the fire_

_They burn_

_As one._

**Author's Note:**

> A special thanks to my beta (which I will get his tumblr handle correct this time) Lord-elmo!
> 
> Also another to my aussie buddy, and serious enabler, Fictionissocialinquiry. You keep this up, and I'm going to start blocking you. ;) (seriously, though, it's fun to have someone say "do it" when there's something I haven't done before)
> 
> So: a quick story about that one random tag of "no beatniking while necking, Katara".
> 
> That's all FictionIsSocialInquiry's fault. Well, actually more just our conversation about this fic. We were discussing how I was going to do this fic, and I had this epiphany that I promptly badly conveyed to FISI. She tentatively commented that a poem interlaced in a smut fic *could maybe* work. To which the response "don't worry, there's not going to be beatniking while their necking". And thus the tag was born.


End file.
